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Background
Profile of the holidaymakers
Their holiday
Planning, booking and information
The Rosyth-Zeebrugge service
Plans to return / recommendation

Background
In May 2002, a ferry link between Scotland and continental Europe was launched. Superfast Ferries runs the service, which sails between Rosyth in Fife and Zeebrugge in Belgium. It is an important new link between Scotland and some of its key tourism markets.

To find out more about the holidaymakers coming to Scotland via this service, VisitScotland commissioned a visitor survey. During late August and early September, passengers returning to Zeebrugge were asked for details of their trip by a research team working in the departure area in Rosyth. Over 300 people provided information, and the following summary presents some of the key findings.

Profile of the holidaymakers

• 39% of them had been to Scotland within the last 5 years, mostly making one previous visit in this time, while 44% of them were on their first visit to Scotland.
   
• Most visitors were travelling in parties of 2 adults. Around a quarter of the visitors were travelling as a family - usually with one or two children.
   
• The landscape and scenery is the top attraction drawing these visitors to Scotland. Other important attractions are space and tranquillity, castles and historic sites, history and heritage, wildlife watching and the Scottish people.

Their holiday

• The majority of the people surveyed were on their main holiday of the year. The average duration of their visit was 13 nights, which is longer than normal for overseas visitors to Scotland. As might be expected, the ferry seems to be especially attractive to visitors who wish to bring their car and tour the country for a while.
   
• These visitors visited places throughout the country during their holiday. 80% of them visited the Highlands, while the other most frequently visited tourist board areas were Argyll, the Isles, Loch Lomond, Stirling and Trossachs, Edinburgh and Lothians, Aberdeen and Grampian and Perthshire.
   
• When asked where they made their first and last stop and where they spent their first and last nights in Scotland, a wide range of answers was given. Edinburgh was the most frequent answer, while other places mentioned include Stirling, Fife, Loch Lomond and Trossachs and the East and West Highlands.
   
• The timing of the crossings (arriving at 10.30am and leaving at 5pm) seems to allow people to make most of their time in the country.
   
• Regarding the type of accommodation used during their holiday, B&Bs were used by almost half of these visitors, while also popular were hotels and camping and caravanning.

Planning, booking and information

• As the holidaymakers included in the survey were those travelling by car, as expected they were mostly independent travellers, not on an organised tour.
   
• Many planned their itineraries in advance but only a third of them booked accommodation before departing. This underlines the need to provide information both before the trip and when visitors are in the area.
   
• These visitors used a wide range of information sources when planning their trip. Guide books, VisitScotland, British Tourist Authority or other tourist offices, www.visitscotland.com, and friends and relatives were the most frequently mentioned sources.
   
• Use of the internet is high, especially among the younger age groups. Over half used it to plan their trip, while around a third used the internet to book some element of their trip.
   
• As part of the Tourist Boards'' communications with visitors coming to Scotland via the Rosyth service, there is a brochure stand in Zeebrugge, and a magazine SuperScotland, specially produced for passengers.
   
• The survey found that around half of these visitors had picked up brochures from the stand at Zeebrugge, and again, half had picked up and read the SuperScotland magazine. Most of those who had done this found these information sources useful.
   
• During their holiday, most of these visitors had visited a Tourist Information Centre to get information, book accommodation or get directions.

The Rosyth-Zeebrugge service

• Convenient location was the most frequently cited reason for using the Rosyth service, and this was particularly important amongst those travelling with children. Other visitors thought that it is quicker and cheaper, and the direct access to Scotland is especially liked.
   
• Around a quarter of these visitors had got information on the ferry service from the internet, while word of mouth and advertising are also important information sources. About a quarter of them had used an agent to book the ferry.
   
• Different ferry services and air travel were the most common forms of transport used by those who had been in Scotland before.

Plans to return / recommendation

• Almost all of these visitors say they will visit Scotland again - most of them within the next 5 years. Most would come again for their main and touring holidays in the summer, and most might use the Rosyth service again.
   
• Moreover almost all would recommend Scotland as a holiday destination to friends and family. The most frequent reasons for this are the landscape and scenery, friendly people, the nature and tranquillity.
   
• Amongst the comments received were "Scotland is great" and "It is wonderful". This is very heartening as recommendation from friends and family is one of the most important factors in making a decision on holiday destination.

George Street Research carried out this research on behalf of VisitScotland